Got Shade?
With a few adaptations, you can still enjoy homegrown vegetables

BY SHARON PARKER

On hot summer afternoons, most of us are grateful for the cooling shade so generously provided by the wonderful canopy of trees that line our streets and often grace our backyards. Until we plant a garden, that is.

Most city yards just don’t get full sun, not the relentless all-day sunshine that beats down on farm fields and suburban plots. Fortunately, we can still enjoy a bountiful harvest from our urban gardens, if we are both observant and a little bit creative. First, take a day to assess the amount of sunlight that falls on the various parts of your yard. You may discover a spot that only gets three hours in the morning but then gets two more hours in the evening; or a corner under the far-reaching branches of an oak tree that gets dappled sunlight most of the day.
Look for spots with at least a couple hours of direct sunlight and some reflected and/or dappled light for about half the day. Morning sun is best because it dries the dew off the leaves early on, so there’s less opportunity for water-borne diseases like mildew to get established, and plants that do well in shade tend to prefer cool conditions, which afternoon shade helps to provide.

But it’s not just the shade you need to consider. Competition from tree roots for water and nutrients may pose more of a challenge than a lack of sunlight, so try to site your garden as far as possible from the trunks of any trees. If you can’t put it at least near the dripline of tree branches, then it would be a good idea to build some raised beds by nailing together a rectangular frame of 2x12s.

This also saves you the trouble of removing sod—just lay down several layers of newspaper in the bottom of the frame, wet them thoroughly to make them hug the ground, and fill the frame with dirt and compost. The newspapers and the sod will decompose over the summer, and those vegetable roots will benefit from the nutrients contributed to the soil as a result.

Put a rain gauge in the garden so you know how much, if any, rain gets through. Plan on supplemental watering, but be sure to water early in the day so that the leaves can dry off before nightfall to avoid creating conditions that foster disease.

What You Can Grow

Green beans grow surprisingly well with only four to five hours of sunlight, as do peas and parsley; lettuce and spinach positively thrive in the shade. But tomatoes, squash and sun-loving herbs like basil and rosemary want six hours or more of sunlight, with an emphasis on more.

But any list of plants is likely to leave off the one that you most want to know about, so here are some guidelines for matching edible plants with the varying degrees of sun or shade you have available.

If the part you eat is the leaves, stems or unopened blossoms, the plants will do fine with two or three hours of direct sun and a smattering of dappled light for a few more hours. Examples are lettuce and spinach, parsley, chives, broccoli. But, with herbs, it’s not so simple. A helpful guide (not a rule) is that the smaller the leaves, the less sun they require—usually. Rosemary, which hales from the sunny Mediterranean, wants lots of sun, basil also; but oregano will grow well in dappled light.

Members of the mint family (easily identified by their square stems), have aggressive tendencies that can be curbed somewhat by growing them in shade.
If the edible part grows underground, partial sun is enough, but, if it needs to form flowers before you harvest the root, look for at least four to five hours of sun. This would include Jerusalem artichokes and potatoes.

Most plants bearing “fruit” that is small and green will be fine with partial shade. Examples are green beans, peas, small cucumbers. Zucchini will be less prolific, but that’s probably OK.

But, if the fruit is colorful and/or is supposed to get fairly large or have an intense or “hot” flavor, they will need at least six hours of sunlight. Examples are tomatoes, peppers (sweet and hot), most squash, and most berries.

If the best sunlight is in your front yard and appearances matter to you, consider that a healthy tomato plant is actually quite attractive; use decorative plant supports, such as a tuteur meant for roses, instead of utilitarian cages. And hot peppers are sometimes grown as ornamentals. You could plant your sun-loving edible plants at various spots where you have the most light, nestled among your flowers, like an old-fashioned cottage garden.